Large numbers of the Gray wolf, canus lupus (also known as the timber wolf), and its subspecies the Mexican gray wolf and the red wolf once ranged in large numbers over much of the United States.
By 1930, however, private, state, and federal extermination campaigns ensured that wolves were hunted, trapped, and poisoned to near extinction in the contiguous U.S. In 1973 the U.S. congress established the Endangered Species Act, to, "provide for the conservation, protection, restoration, and propagation of species of fish, wildlife, and plants facing extinction," but only about 400 wolves were estimated to still be alive in the lower 48 states to benefit from that legislation-almost all of them timber wolves living in Minnesota or Michigan; the Mexican gray wolf, native to Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico, and the red wolf of the Southeastern states, had been all but eliminated in their respective habitats by the time the act was passed.
Since the mid 70's, wolf restoration efforts led by state and federal wildlife officials and private conservation groups, though complex and controversial, have been largely successful.
Despite continued opposition to reintroduction programs by a contingency of ranchers, farmers, timber companies, and outdoorsman (including both legal appeals and illegal killings), scientists are confident that the wolf is making a comeback.
Although currently limited to less than 5% of its former range in this country, more than 3,500 animals roam parts of eight states with the timber wolf currently listed as "threatened" rather than endangered.
